By My Side
by Spooky Scully
Summary: Detective Kate Beckett is young and ambitious. She's also a single mother who has never quite found the right man. When she meets the handsome Richard Castle on their kids first day of school, has she finally met someone that she can trust? AU, Rating will change to M. soon.


**Hi everyone. This is my first Caskett fic. I love them, but I suppose I avoided writing about them because I'm not fantastic at writing romances. But I've given it a go. This first chapter just introduces things, I guess. I hope you enjoy it. I'll try and upload the next chapter in a couple of days. I hope you like it!**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or any characters from the show. Too bad. **_

Kate Beckett smiled as she watched her daughter pack and unpack her schoolbag for the thousandth time. It was her first day of the first grade. She was very proud. Finally everything was going sort of well in her life. Serena was starting at a really good school, and just a couple of months ago, Kate had made homicide detective.  
"Do you want pancakes?" Kate asked her daughter.  
"Yes, please, mommy." Serena said, clambering up onto one of the kitchen stools. She was already in her little school uniform, and Kate had put her long wavy blond-brown hair into two braids.  
"Are you excited?" Kate asked. "First day of school is an important day. You'll never forget it."  
"I'm nervous" Serena replied. "But happy."  
Kate gave her daughter the plate of pancakes and kissed her cheek. "You're going to be fine."  
"I hope so." she replied, tucking in.  
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Serena hopped down and ran to answer it.  
"Grandpa!" She said happily, as she jumped into Jim Beckett's arms.  
"Mommy, Grandpa's here!"  
"Hey Dad." Kate said.  
"I just had to drop by to wish the princess luck for her first day." Jim said. "I can't believe she's going to school already."  
"I know. I feel kind of old." Kate said. "But she's still my little baby."  
"I'm six!" Serena exclaimed.  
"You'll still be my baby when you're twenty." Kate told her. "Sit down Dad, we're just starting breakfast."

"Alexis!" Richard Castle called out. "Breakfast is ready!"  
Richard heard Alexis's quick light footsteps come down the stairs.  
"Good morning!" the little redhead said happily. "Waffles?"  
"Yup." Her father nodded. "Look at that uniform. You look very smart, Alexis."  
"Thanks, Daddy."  
"So, today's important, right? You nervous?"  
"Sorta." She said. "I'm excited too."  
"You're gonna love it." Castle told her. "Clever kids like you always love school."  
Alexis made a face at her dad. "I'm not a nerd, you know."  
"Of course you aren't." Said her father. "Eat up, we have to leave soon."  
"Knowing you, we'll be late anyway." Said Alexis.

-  
"I don't think I wanna go to school anymore." Serena came to a halt as they approached the school gates. "I can do one more year of preschool, mommy."  
Kate had to agree that the big iron gates looked intimidating. But Augustine's Academy was a good school. It was reasonably priced and close to their home, and Kate's work. She was lucky that Serena had gotten in.  
"Come on, Serena." Kate said, tugging her hand. "You'll love it. Look at all the kids you're gonna meet."  
The yard was full of hundreds of kids running and screaming. It reminded Kate of a zoo.  
"It's so loud!" Serena said, covering her ears with her hands.  
"We have to go to the assembly hall." Kate said. "Let's go."

****  
"Daddy, I told you we'd be late!" Alexis hissed  
"Alexis, we're fifteen minutes early." Her father said. "You need to calm down, sweetie."  
The assembly hall wasn't even half full yet. They slid into their seats.  
"Sorry, daddy." She said. "I guess I am pretty nervous."  
Richard pulled his daughter onto his lap. "It's OK to be nervous. But everything's gonna be great."  
"I know."  
Richard kissed Alexis's head. They were silent for a few minutes.

"I wish mommy could have come." She said quietly.  
"She's really busy in Europe. But I know she wanted to come."  
"If she wanted to, she would have."

That killed Richard. Alexis's mother, Meredith, was always in who-knows-where doing who-knows-what. Really, he had no idea where she was. And he didn't care, either. What he did care about was Alexis, and Alexis was constantly being let down by Meredith. And no matter how many times Meredith had said she would be there for birthdays and Christmases; and not turned up, Alexis never stopped hoping. His little daughter was constantly disappointed by her own mother, and Castle hated it.

The assembly started. It was boring, and long, and to Richard, it seemed like a regurgitation of the information he had read in the information pack the school had mailed him a couple of weeks before. His mind was wandering, and so were his eyes. He was daydreaming when he first noticed her. Sitting two seats down from him, with her daughter, he guessed, though she didn't look older than twenty five. She had long, light brown, hair that curled at the ends, and greenish eyes. It sounds corny, but Richard was kind of entranced by her. He noticed her notice him, and he saw her cheeks glow pink as she quickly turned the other way. There was an innocence about her. She was beautiful.

Kate was only half listening to the speaker. Serena was resting her head on Kate's lap, doubly bored. Kate tried to concentrate, but it was difficult. That was when she noticed the guy on her right. He was looking at her. Not in a creepy way, though. He looked familiar, but she couldn't place from where. Their eyes met, and she felt her cheeks burn. She looked away. She probably looked like some kind of stupid teenager, getting embarrassed so easily.  
The assembly finished, and with one final kiss and hug, the first graders were told to line up to be led to class.

Parents were meant to leave, but Kate stayed, watching Serena waiting in the line for a couple of minutes. She hoped that her daughter would make some friends today. She knew that Serena was really a very shy girl but Kate felt as if she didn't even care about having friends. At least she went to school happily. Some kids were still hanging on to their parents legs, crying. Serena was talking to a little red-haired girl. Every so often, she would turn round and wave at her mom.  
Kate smiled back and waved too, but inside, she had to admit, she felt a little teary.

"Is this your first kid to go to school?" she heard a voice say from beside her. It was the man from the auditorium.  
"Yeah. My only, in fact." She replied. "You?"  
"I'm the same. That's my Alexis there." He said, pointing to the little red-head Serena was talking to.  
"My daughter Serena is beside her." She said. He really did look familiar. He was nice looking. He wasn't stereotypically handsome, but he had a kind face.  
The first graders were led into their classrooms, parents waving after them.  
Kate walked out the school gates and down the street with the familiar-looking-man.

"I'm Richard, Richard Castle." he stuck his hand out and she shook it. A nice firm handshake.  
Kate suddenly realized where she had seen him before - on the inside covers of crime novels. She felt a bit embarrassed.  
"As in the novelist?" She replied. "I'm Kate, by the way."  
"You've heard of my books?" he said, surprised. He'd written a few crime novels. The most recent few had even made the bestsellers lists. It was difficult, but he was becoming more successful. His publicist had told him that his new series 'Derrick Storm' was going to make him famous. But he hardly ever got recognized by his name. Especially by people like Kate.  
Kate blushed.  
"I've read a couple of them." She said, though that was kind of an understatement. She was pretty sure that she had read all of his books. For a young woman like her, she didn't party or date much. Books like Castle's were her idea of a good time. They had helped her through some pretty rough times too.  
"I like them. They're good." She said simply.  
Richard's face erupted into a big smile.  
"Thanks a lot. I mean, it's cool that you've heard of my books." He said.

His expression made Kate want to smile too.  
"I'm sure everyone will have heard of your books a year from now."  
"I doubt it, but thanks anyway." Castle said. He wondered if Kate was married. She didn't have a ring on, but nowadays, who gets married anyway? Was she single? He decided to take a dive.  
"So, are you busy? Wanna grab a coffee?" He asked.  
Kate looked at her watch. "I'm late for work as it is. Sorry. But some other time?"  
She had just made homicide detective a couple of weeks ago and she could not afford to be late.  
"Oh, ok." Castle said, disappointed. "But yeah, another time."  
"Definitely." Kate said. She hailed a taxi. "See you at the school, Castle."

On the short walk back to the apartment, Richard thought of Kate. What was her job? She was dressed pretty formal. She was intelligent and beautiful. Maybe a lawyer? He didn't know. He didn't even know her last name.  
He didn't even know if she was available.

In the cab to the precinct, Kate thought of Richard Castle. Was it weird that was was planning to Wikipedia his name as soon as she got to work? She couldn't wait to tell her friend Lanie that she had met him. He seemed like a nice guy, which wasn't the type of man Kate had experience with. And he had such gorgeous blue eyes.

**That's it! Thanks for reading. Please review!?**


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